Dies Irae
by RedHunter87
Summary: AU: Trunks travels back to the past, bringing Gohan with him. How will this change things? Read to find out.
1. Chapter 1-Revisions

**Dies Irae **

**Android Saga **

**Chapter 1- Revisions**

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_Disclaimer: I don't own DB, DBZ, or DBGT. _

_A/N: Thoughts are in italics. Flashback is in bold. Big thanks to Chemistry-Deaf for being my beta reader, and for writing the flashback for this chapter._

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_Age 784 Future Timeline. Ruins of Capsule Corporation, West City_

"Be careful both of you." Bulma told them as Gohan and Trunks climbed into the time machine she had built for them. "Gohan you better bring my Trunks back to me alive and well." _She hadn't wanted to __agree to Trunks going back with Gohan, but he had grown leaps and bounds in power and skill since his first transformation into Super Saiyan four years ago. He trained hard and improved his ability to fight against the Androids. He fought them against her wishes at first, but it didn't take her long to understand that she had to let him do it and that she could no more stop him then she could have stopped Vegeta when he was alive. Still fighting them straight up had proved to be fruitless, even with both Gohan and Trunks fighting them. It was the very fact that all three of them understood that they just weren't going to be able to gain the power to defeat the Androids in this time that prompted them to consider that the solution lay in heading back in time. _"You will need this." She tossed Gohan a capsule with the cure for the heart virus in it. "Remember to make sure that Goku takes it. Its grape flavored, that is his favorite. He needs to take it before he gets sick, not when he gets sick, we already know the virus is in his system, this will kill it before it can even get started."

Gohan caught the capsule with his right hand, putting it away in his pocket. "Got it Bulma, don't worry, I will take good of Trunks, and also my dad." Gohan clinched his left fist after putting the capsule in his pocket. "I swear that I won't allow the past to suffer like our time line has. I know that my dad will make all the difference. I know he will figure out a way to defeat the Androids."

"I have the time machine programmed to take you back to five minutes before Frieza and King Cold landed. You can't allow your dad to fight because if he transforms that will trigger the virus."

Trunks sighed at his moms endless instructions. It wasn't like they hadn't gone over all of this many times before. "Mom don't worry we got it. See ya soon hopefully."

Gohan hit the button to close the time machine and was about to hit the button to travel back in time when Bulma held up a hand for them to stop. He opened the machine again as she walked back over.

"I almost forget." She pulled out a collection of data discs and handed them over to Gohan. "I made these up just last night. They contain all of my research on time travel and time machines, including the blueprints for how to build them. I want you to give them to my past counterpart just in case. That will save her a lot of work. But before you give them to her, I want you to get her to promise that she won't use them unless its needed. A lot of that tech shouldn't be used casually or made widely known. Just think of the damage that could be done if time travel was usable by anyone."

Gohan took the discs and gave Bulma a thumbs up. "Well we are off now." He closed the time machine and hit the buttons to start it up.

Bulma watched as the time machine vanished before heading back into Capsule Corporation . They better come back safely to her. She had a device on her belt programmed to set an alarm off if time energies were detected in her area so she wasn't worried about missing their return.

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August Age 764 Past Timeline

The time machine flashed into existence in the rocky area behind where King Cold's ship was set to land. Mirai Gohan checked his watch as they got out of the time machine. He pushed a button on the side of the machine, causing it to revert back to its capsule form, putting it away in his jacket. "Trunks let's get into position, we have just five minutes before Frieza and King Cold land. Remember to hide your power. We can't have the other fighters picking up on it just yet."

Trunks touched the sword that was strapped across his back. "Got it Gohan. I think that you should let me go out and handle this myself, while you stay here hidden."

Gohan shot Trunks a puzzled look. That was a change to the plan they had made before leaving. "Why?"

"Well we forgot to consider that the others will likely be able to read your ki, and know that it is you. The goal is to disrupt this timeline as little as possible, outside of saving your dad and warning the others about the Androids right?"

Gohan nodded, checking his watch as he did. They still had time. "You might not be enough alone Trunks. If King Cold transforms, and his power scales in the same way that Frieza's does when transforming, you won't have enough power to defeat him if he reaches his final form. If we fight together, we can kill them before King Cold can transform."

Trunks laughed at Gohan's worry. He wasn't at all concerned about facing Frieza and his father, not after battling the Androids for years. Besides according to Gohan he was stronger then Goku was when he got back from Namek. "They won't last five minutes against me Gohan. You know that they are far too aggrogent to even consider working together against me. You were at the battle the first time, and you saw how they didn't fight together against Goku. Let me handle them both, you stay in the shadows with your power level suppressed, in case your needed...not that I will need your help against the likes of them. This is going to be a lot of fun." Trunks was looking forward to being on the winning side of combat for once.

M. Gohan spent a few moments considering Trunks plan, looking for flaws. "I like the idea of staying back in the shadows so that we change the timeline as little as possible outside of the changes that we want to make. Only we have a problem, my dad can sense energy and he will use IT to get down to the battlefield .Remember that his space pod is 3 hours behind Frieza's spaceship. Both of us were going to step in, and end this fight quickly so that he wouldn't have to come fight, thus never activating the heart virus. How do we stop him, if you get in trouble? Even if he doesn't fight if he comes down transformed, it will be enough to trigger the virus in his system."

"Seriously Gohan you need to relax, I got this. They will die by my hand. Then I can hand over the information and the cure to the virus to your father and we can head back to our timeline." Trunks flashed a smile as the watch beeped and the ship landed near them. "Time to do this." He rose into the air without waiting for Gohan to agree."

Mirai Gohan stepped off to the side, where he had a clear view of the transpiring events, and kept his power as low as possible.

* * *

Goku sensed the approaching powers in his saiyan attack pod._Damn it that was Frieza. How had he lived through what he I did to him and the planet exploding? And there is another power on board, one that is even stronger just as evil, even if whoever it is only using a fraction of their possible power. As soon as they landed he would... _Goku was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt another large power flare up for a second before being brought back to a level that was hard to sense from this distance. He extended his senses to keep a lock on the power. Goku checked the time till his pod was due to land. Still three hours. Could he afford to not go down there to check the situation out? None of the Earth's defenders could hope to defeat Frieza or that other power, but maybe this new power could.

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I want you to spread out and find all of the Saiyan's friends," Frieza ordered his troops. "You have their profiles programmed into you're scouters. You are to kill them and bring their bodies here. Do not..." Frieza cut off his speech as a human dressed in a blue jacket and with a sword strapped to his back landed in front of him. "Ah look men we have our first victim. Who are you human? Let your name be recorded as the first death on this planet."'

"My name is not important. The fact that I am here to finish what Goku started is," Trunks said simply.

"Goku? You know that dirty Saiyan monkey?"

I haven't met him, but I will as soon as he lands. Sadly you won't be here to see him. But I will tell him you dropped by for a visit."

Trunks speech caused the cyborg Frieza to start laughing. "Father even the humans on this backwards planet have heard of me. I am so honored."

"Frieza would you hurry up and stop messing around. We don't have all day," King Cold scolded him.

"Father please, I just want to have a little fun. After all you taught me that revenge is best handed out in person." Frieza spoke more respectfully to King Cold then he spoke to anyone else ever. Because only King Cold had a greater power then he did. Frieza turned to his men. "Kill him, he isn't worth my time."

One of the soldiers stepped forward tapping his scouter. "Power level of 5? Well, too bad human." He raised his energy gun, dialing the needed power. "Say good night." He pressed the button and his energy gun fired at Trunks.

Trunks raised a hand and flicked the energy blast back with his finger, sending the solider stumbling back as a hole appeared in his arm. Raising his hand again he fired six rapid energy blasts killing the squad of soldiers. "Now that the fodder is out of the way, shall we continue our chat?"

Frieza smiled at Trunks. "Well, it seems that you have a bit of a fight in you after all. Hopefully you can amuse me until Goku gets here, although I suppose there is not much hope of that."

"Goku lands in three hours, but you won't be here to see him. You have five minutes, that is how long this battle is going to take. "

Frieza clinched his fists together. "Really you are so dramatic, making bold claims that you can't back up. It is always the same with you lot, your always going to kill me at the start, then by the end you are begging for your life."

Trunks smirked, brushing away the hair in front of his eyes. "Tell me something Frieza. Are you ready to fight a real Super Saiyan? And I am not talking about Goku."

"Am I am ready to...what?" The cyborg started to laugh again, turning to glance back at his father. "This one has quite the sense of humor. Maybe I should let him live, but cage him so he can tell jokes at my court. What do you think father?"

"I have heard better. Could you please just kill him so that we can get on with the rest of your revenge," King Cold answered. Part of him wished that this warrior was he claimed, because he very much wanted to see the Super Saiyan of legend. But everyone knew that Saiyans had black hair, and this warrior had purple hair. King Cold's scouter started to beep rapidly and he turned his full attention back to the warrior in question.

Rocks started to rise in the air as a gold aura appeared around Trunks. The ground shook as Trunks purple hair stood up before shifting to gold. He yelled for a few moments as his power kept climbing before leveling off. The scouters of Frieza and King Cold shattered from the power overload.

Frieza watched in horror as the youth transformed in front of him. Not another one! It just wasn't fair. His mind flashed back to Namek, the boy had the eyes, they were exactly the same. He clenched his fists so tightly that purple blood started to run between them. Thrusting his left hand out he shot a blast of yellow energy at Trunks. "Die monkey!" One of the things that his cyborg form did was reduce the time it took for him to gather energy by a large amount.

Trunks put out hand and the energy deflected off his palm. "That was strike one. Care to try again?," he offered Frieza.

Frieza's mind was racing as Trunks spoke. _So he deflected one energy blast .I was even with Goku, I should have beaten him if not for my body being injured before our final fight. Now my body is rebuilt better then ever, and this Saiyan child can't be stronger then Goku, that isn't possible. And he is foolish enough to give me a second chance, he is going to regret that. _Frieza raised a hand into the air as a white aura flared up around him. A black ball of energy formed above his hand as he rose into the air. "Foolish Saiyan this attack is what blew up Namek and countless other planets. You can't dodge or your planet will be blown up. Myself and my father can survive in space without oxygen, but you can't even should you you live through the planet exploding around you. "Say your goodbyes Saiyan!," Frieza said as he threw the Death Ball at Trunks.

Future Gohan watched from the sideline cursing silently to himself. He knew that he should have handled this fight. Trunks was playing around too much, and now it looked like he was going to have to step in. He had to bring Trunks back home safely, or Bulma would never forgive him. Gohan thought back to when Trunks became worthy of fighting at his side.

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_**Four Years Ago, Future Timeline**_

**It was years since the Androids set up this terrible game of slaughtering people by the millions and playing cat and mouse against us. The number of warriors left on this planet was two: Trunks and I. I had been a Super Saiyan ever since I saw the original group of warriors killed by those evil Android twins except for my father. He died 6 months earlier due to a heart virus. We trained daily to increase our chances against the murderous Androids, but Trunks had yet to reach Super Saiyan state. I was hard pressed to keep him out of the battle as much as possible.**

**He was Bulma's only son, and it was my responsibility to make sure he comes back home well and alive. Unlike them, I had no family left. My mother was driven to grief over the death of my father, and her vision for me was basically in shatters. I was still her son, but I was becoming less of the son she knew or wanted. I didn't realized how much work she did around the house and cooking until I finally noticed the lack of energy she put in. Without her usual demur over the housework, it took a toll on her body. I tried to visit her, but it was becoming difficult these days.**

**I do not remember exactly what we were doing when the Androids decided to wreck the Super World, but we dropped whatever we were doing like usual and flew out to stop them. I reminded Trunks of our usual plan, I go out and fight them while Trunks stay behind and watch. He would jump in when I become too injured or when I give him the signal which was nearly never. I knew Trunks hated it with passion, but he couldn't argue since he has yet reached Super Saiyan to fight alongside me.**

**As we flew nearer to Super World, we saw a stampede of people rushing out of the amusement park and an area of destroyed vegetation, vehicle, and asphalt where it used to be a parking lot. The rest was the military remains. It wasn't hard to find out that the Androids were having fun with the rides by themselves. They were just boarding the Grand Carousal as we landed. **

"**Aw com'on, you guys again?" 17 complained. "Do you have to show up every single time we go anywhere?" **

"**And we're in such a good mood too," 18 agreed. "17, get rid of them, quickly."**

"**Sure, sis, don't want to interrupt ****_your_**** fun."**

"**It's not my fault you take ****_forever_**** with yours." **

"**Whatever." 17 walked up to me as I took my stance.**

"**Trunks, stay back," I told him.**

"**Right," he said, his tone indicating he prefered to stay. He took some steps back and a ways off from my position.**

**17 wasted no time in rushing at me ready to kick my legs from under me. I responded by jumping over his low flying body. He stopped himself before hitting a nearby park attraction and faced me just as I turned midway of my jump. He already had a ki ball ready and flung it at me. The ki ball hit my afterimage then the building behind it. I reappeared in front of my vanished afterimage and raised myself to Super Saiyan state. 17 came flying at me attempting to strike me down as I managed to block or dodge most of it. When I went to attack, he got past my defenses and sent me flying to a support beam.**

**I lost my guard and my enemy's position when I slammed into it. I felt a fist punching my left cheek forcing me flying off the support beam and an elbow to my back a few meters away. I ended up crashing through the roof of an Arcade building. I had to create some distance and distract him so I could land a hit. I flew through a wall, shattering it as I looked around for 17. He was above me sending out another ki ball. I continued my planned destination as I turned my body to face him. The ki hit the ground causing a cloud of dust.**

**I had already pinpointed 17 before the cloud of dust obscured my vision and threw a ki ball. The ki pushed away the dust giving me clear sight of my opponent. It also meant he could see me. I didn't need to worry about that since he was surprised to see the ki ball I made flung at him and barely moved to the side to avoid it. I took the opening presented to me and flew up to give him a taste of my own attack. The first two connected and managed to throw him a few feet.**

**I continued my flurry of punches and kicks as 17 regained himself. It wasn't long until we were locked in furious combat as we traded blows and blocks as we attempted to knock the other off. This round was won by me since I brought my leg upwards and kicked 17 away. I followed the flying body, intended to finish him off when 18 suddenly reappeared in front of me. I couldn't stop myself in time as her fist punched me sideways. I crashed into a thick glass window. It shattered as I fell outside with shards of glass raining on me. I was grateful to have Saiyan skin to protect me from a potential glass cut.**

"**Don't interfere!" I heard 17 yelled at 18.**

"**Chill, 17," 18 told him. "The ride was over, and you two will soon make a mess of this place. Let's take care of him, so we can get some more fun."**

**It was a struggle to get up. As I forced myself up to my knee then a standing position, I could see from the top part of my vision the twins flying at me. I could barely hold out against one, but both? It would be the end of me. This was about the time Trunks decide to jump in and help, but I don't see him. I did sense him nearby, so he must be watching. Then, the onslaught from the twins assaulted my already bruised body.**

**I tried to catch myself every time my legs were swept out from under me or knocked around, but the other was always there to screw up my balance. It was hard keeping track of two fast Androids using only my sights since I could not sense them at all. I kept my eyes open as long as I can and caught 18 creating a ki ball and blasting it at my face. My vision blurred from the intense light as I felt more ki blasts hit me. Just as my vision returned, I was knocked forward on the glass shard ground. I tried to get up, but a knee pressed on my back preventing me from going further.**

"**Heh, well this isn't much fun," I heard 17 say from above me. "I wonder where the other guy was."**

"**Who knows? Maybe he high-tailed out of here when he saw we're too much for his friend?" 18 responded from a ways back. I can't see her since she's out of my vision range.**

"**That's no fun. Then we have to chase him."**

"**Never mind him, I'll find him later. What are you going to do with this one?"**

"**Him? Like this." I felt his hands grab my right arm and twist it unnaturally up. "I want you to scream as I slowly break your arm off." I felt panic rise in me as I tried to get a grip with myself. There has to be a way to get out of my current predicament. **

"**Gohan!" I heard Trunks yelled as he tried to blast off 17. I saw 18 get in front of the blast and knocked it away.**

"**Oh, there you are. I thought you decided to run," 18 mocked Trunks.**

"**Mock me all you want Android, but when I'm through with you, you'll wish that you had never suffered my wrath!" Trunks shouted at her. Then they were gone.**

**A sharp pain reminded me of what's going to happen. I braced myself mentally for the torture 17 would place on my arm and probably the rest of me. I managed not to scream as 17 slowly forced my arm at an unnatural angle until a snap I heard and felt happened. The pain was unimaginable as the held back tears flowed down, and my scream tore out of my mouth. I barely felt him shift as he put himself a better position to pull my arm out of its socket. Unconsciousness threatened to overwhelm me.**

**I was snapped back to the present when I heard a high pitch wail. I could only think of Trunks and searched out his familiar ki. I was confused when I felt his power rose higher than I remembered. Then, 17 dropped my injured arm as he shouted for his sister. The arm hit the ground, sending another jolt of pain. Ignoring the useless arm, I struggled to at least sit up. I managed to raise my head and saw a spectacular sight. Trunks had golden hair handling the clearly shocked 18 with ease.**

**At least I hope so. I was having difficulty seeing properly. It wasn't till later that I found out I somehow fell asleep or something. My eyes snapped open when I realized that and saw a bruised but alive Trunks sitting beside me, quietly waiting. "Wha-?" I tried to asked, but my mind was too jumbled to form a sentence. It was then I realized that my arm was healed and my full strength was back. "How-? Senzu bean."**

"**Yes. I searched on you for one while you were unconscious and found one," Trunks confirmed.**

"**Thanks, Trunks. What about you? And the Androids? What happened?"**

"**I'm well. The Androids thought two Super Saiyans would provide more fun and left. I would have gone after them if I didn't have you to worry about."**

"**T-two? You turned Super Saiyan?"**

"**Yes. 18 was about to blast me to pieces when I heard your scream. I never heard you make that scream and I don't want you to make that again! I could feel my anger at them, my inevitable uselessness to you, and not making a difference just … snapped something inside of me. It was nice for a change to see her with a horrified look on her face. I could have ended her when 17 join in. After a few blows, they decided to ceasefire for now and have you healed up for the next match."**

"**I see."**

**After a moment of silence, I deemed time for us to head back to Capsule Corp before the last rays of sun disappeared. Later, we had several more skirmishes against them before our trip to the past.**

* * *

Future Gohan transformed with a thought and flew towards the battle, moving with super speed.

* * *

Up in space Goku was keeping track of the battle with his ki senses, waiting to see if he needed to intervene. He felt a massive spike in Frieza's power, and touched two fingers to his forehead, locking in on the ki of the unknown warrior. His focus wavered when he felt another massive ki spike._ Gohan? That was impossible, he couldn't have progressed that much. It didn't quite feel like his Gohan either. The ki felt darker, even though it was clearly Gohan. What's going on down there?_ Goku considered it for a few moments, before deciding to sit tight for now. This new power was more then enough to handle Frieza, and if it was Gohan, Goku didn't want to distract him by appearing right near him in the middle of his power climbing.

* * *

Piccolo almost flipped out when he felt the source of the new power on the battlefield. First there was this unknown warrior, then Frieza created a planet killing blast. Then a new warrior stepped in, and that warrior was Gohan some how. Piccolo checked to make sure that Gohan was still sitting next to him. So how it is that Gohan's ki was in two places at once? Whoever this other Gohan was, and Piccolo had no doubts that it was indeed Gohan, he radiated more power then Piccolo had ever felt in once place in his entire life. His power was much greater then the other unknown warrior, the one already fighting Frieza.

* * *

Trunks caught the Death Ball between his hands not moving an inch from the impact. "Is that really your most powerful attack?" He shook his head out of pity. "You know for all the stuff I heard about how horrible you were, I have to say that you haven't lived up to it. I expected to have to break a sweat at least before I killed you." Moving his hands together Trunks crushed the Death Ball between them.

He looked to the left, feeling Future Gohan approach rapidly. He spoke before Future Gohan could. "I know Gohan, I shouldn't be playing around with him. My five minutes aren't up yet though. That is how long you said your dad took to beat both of them."

Super Saiyan Future Gohan landed nearby, keeping an eye on Frieza and King Cold. "I told you don't play around in case King Cold is capable of transforming. I am not sure how powerful that would make him."

Trunks shrugged. "I would have killed him before he could transform, if I saw that he was trying to. It's not like I am using my full power right now."

Frieza looked on in horror, first at the ease at which Trunks disposed of his Death Ball, and then at yet another Super Saiyan showing up. At first Frieza thought it was Goku, but the unknown warrior was calling him Gohan. Seeing them talking to each other, and not paying attention to him he charged up a pair of Death Balls and threw them at the Saiyans.

Future Gohan sensed the balls of energy coming at him and Trunks and spun to face them. Raising one hand he shot a large energy wave at the incoming Death Balls, consuming them and pushing the entire combined wave of energy back at Frieza, forcing him to dodge out of the way as the energy wave went out into space. "It is rude to interrupt when you see people talking. Didn't you learn any manners as a child?," Gohan scolded him.

King Cold stood relaxed on the sidelines watching the interaction between his son and the Saiyans. "You disappoint me Frieza. I wouldn't have expected you to be pushed around by a group of monkeys. Back when I was running the PTO out in the open, I made sure my inferiors knew their place. Now I suggest that you finish this before I am forced to step in and handle it myself." King Cold didn't like to be disappointed, and those that did suffered.

Frieza blanched at the clear threat in his fathers voice. "Yes father, I will fight seriously now." With that the ground started to shake as Frieza brought out his full power. "Now Saiyan fools, tremble before my full power." He vanished appearing next to Trunks swinging for his head, only to have it easily blocked. No matter how much he attacked he couldn't land a single solid hit on Trunks.

While Trunks was testing out the extent of Frieza's full power, Future Gohan went after King Cold. Not wasting any time tossing insults around, he flew forward and punched King Cold right in the face, sending him flying into a near by cliff. A follow up kick knocked King Cold through said cliff, and so Gohan kept the assault up, not giving King Cold a chance to consider transforming, if he even could. It was clear pretty quickly that despite King Cold's best efforts that he was no match for Gohan.

"You and your friend have a lot of power," King Cold said as he stood clutching his side from Gohan's latest blows. King Cold hadn't gotten a beating like this in a very long time, back when his father was the ruler, and he was plotting to overthrow him. He was never given the chance because his father died of natural causes before they could have their final fight. "Both of you, if you worked for me...no worked alongside me, could have whatever you wanted. Women, armies, fleets, planets. Entire systems even. You could replace my son, he has grown too weak to keep his spot, because it looks like your friend there is about to kill him."

Future Gohan looked at King Cold with fury in his eyes. To cast away his own son, just because he wasn't strong enough. He was just like the Androids, only caring about himself, not caring who got hurt in the process of getting what he wanted. "I think not," he said in a clipped tone, fury radiating from his words. He charged up an attack in one hand before thrusting his hand forward at King Cold. "I call this my God Breaker attack. You will be the first to ever experience it." A yellow ball of energy shot out of Gohan's hand catching King Cold right in the chest and going right through his armor and out his back.

King Cold stumbled a few steps before falling over. "Why? I don't understand...I offered you power over everything," he asked as he coughed up purple blood.

Mirai Gohan walked forward slowly. "Because people like you are monsters, and you create and enable monsters by your actions. I watched my world descend into darkness. I won't let this world do the same." Gohan started to charge up the attack that made his father famous. What better way to end the threat of Freiza's family once and for all then using the Kamehameha wave. He took his time, making sure to gather enough power before firing the blue energy wave at King Cold, reducing him to ashes.

Future Gohan took a deep breath dispelling his anger before powering down. He turned back to watch Trunks cutting Frieza into tiny pieces with his sword, before blasting them into dust. That took care of the first threat, but a much bigger threat still loomed. Turning towards the cliff where the other Z-Fighters of this timeline were hiding, he spoke. "All of you can come out now, the threat is over, and we won't hurt you. My...Goku will be landing soon. If you follow us, we will show you exactly well he will land."

Piccolo was the first one to appear, kid Gohan trailing behind him. "Stay back Gohan, we don't know what these two are up to. Get ready to run if I give the word," Piccolo ordered him. He wasn't about to expose Gohan to danger in case he was wrong about who was standing in front of him.

"But Mr. Piccolo, that fighter his energy feels like mine, and he is wearing my dads uniform. He has to be an older version of me. Physics says that time travel is possible, because..." at a strong look from Piccolo, Gohan shut up and stood back.

Trunks landed in time to hear kid Gohan's comments. "He is right you know, we are from the future. In fact...," Trunks caught a glare from Mirai Gohan and went silent himself.

"What I want to know is how it is that you are Super Saiyans? The only Saiyans left are myself, Kakarot, and his brat," Vegeta said glaring at both of the future warriors.

"I would prefer to only have to explain this once," Mirai answered. "If you would please follow us to where Goku is going to land, I will explain everything then." This was already getting more out of control then Mirai Gohan had wanted. Their first plan was totally out of the window now, thanks to Trunks playing around with the ice demons.

"At least tell us who you are," Krillin said.

"You can call me Mirai, and he is Trunks", Mirai Gohan responded. "Now please follow me this way."

"We are headed over there, you can follow or not as you choose," Trunks added. Both of future warriors took off, heading for the area that Goku would land in.

Kid Gohan took off after them, despite the protests of the others. "I feel like I can trust them, besides I want to be there when my dad lands."

* * *

_3 hours later _

"There he is Mr. Piccolo," kid Gohan said pointing up in the sky. "They were right, daddy is home." Gohan took off into the air following the decent of the Saiyan Attack Pod. He got there just as Goku climbed out of the crater the pod left.

"Hi Gohan, hi everyone. How did you know I was going to land here?" Goku opened his arms, catching Gohan as the boy jumped into them.

"I have missed you daddy," the half Saiyan child said.

"I missed you too." Goku started to say more before he glanced over at Mirai Gohan and Trunks. He placed Gohan back down on the ground, focusing his attention on the two warriors that had saved his friends. So his theory had been right about the source of the power that had felt like Gohan, but not exactly Gohan. Somehow there was another version of Gohan here. An older darker version.

Mirai Gohan had thought about this moment for a long time. The moment when he would see his father again. He blinked first under his father's intense stare, wondering why his father was looking at him so strangely. He glanced at his young counterpart and smiled back at the smile which was plastered on his face. He knew exactly who he was looking at for sure. Mirai resolved to make a few minutes to talk to him before they left. It would change the future in unknown ways, but that was why they were here wasn't it?

Trunks glanced back and forth between his mentor and Goku. He had wanted to meet Goku for as long as they had been planning this trip, hearing so much about him from Future Gohan. Did Goku measure up to the tales told about him? Was he really the warrior that would tip the balance for this timeline? Trunks had to know for sure. With that in mind he walked over to stand in front of Goku, pulling his sword off his back. He got into a combat stance and smiled as Goku matched it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Future Gohan trying to wave him off, but he payed him no mind. "So Goku you are also a super Saiyan correct? Can you show me please?"

Goku reacted quickly without any thought when Trunks pulled his sword out, pushing Gohan behind him and getting into his battle stance. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Piccolo grabbing Gohan and dragging him away. Goku hadn't suspected a trap, but people had tried to kill him for no reason before. He relaxed slightly when Trunks asked him about also being super Saiyan and if he could show him. "Sure." Clinching his firsts together slightly, he let out a yell transforming in a flash that sent everyone but Trunks and Future Gohan stumbling back a few steps. "Now what?"

"Now we will all three be super Saiyans," Trunks explained. He transformed, putting his sword away as he did. The reason he had taken it out in the first place was to test Goku, and see through his actions if he was both the warrior and the person that his stories claimed to be. Trunks was satisfied that he was indeed who Gohan had described.

Future Gohan transformed, catching on to what Trunks was doing. Through his actions he was dispelling any doubts the others might have had about who they were, and what they were capable of. This would make their story much more believable. Time travel sounded more palusable then undiscovered super Saiyans, especially with his younger counterpart standing there, and people able to see how much they looked like mirror images of each other. He spoke for the first time since Goku landed. "I can't help but feeling if the three of us were facing the Androids, we could have defeated them."

Goku looked puzzled at the comments of the older warrior. "Androids? You came here for help? Well I guess I owe you for saving my family and friends from Frieza."

Future Gohan shook his head. "We should start from the beginning so that everything is understood. Some...no most of what we have to say will sound strange and hard to believe, but I urge you to consider the facts before deciding." He powered down and Trunks followed suit.

Goku also dropped out of his super Saiyan form. "Alright we are listening."

Future Gohan took a deep breath as everyone gathered around. "Alright, first things first. Our names." He pointed at Trunks. "His name is really Trunks, but when I said to call me Mirai, I was only being half truthful."

"Mirai means the future right?," Kid Gohan questioned.

"Correct" his counterpart told him. "And that part is true enough. We are both from the future."

Vegeta scoffed at his statement. "Please you expect us to believe that? I want to know how you acquired our powers, your clearly not Saiyans. No Saiyan has purple hair."

"Are you blind as well as stupid Vegeta?" Piccolo questioned him. "That is Gohan you are talking to. An older version of Gohan, but otherwise exactly the same as our Gohan. I wasn't totally sure at first, but the way he carries himself, the way he fights, and the way he talks has confirmed it for it me."

Mirai Gohan nodded. "Right as usual Piccolo. I am your Gohan, but from a future timeline. My world has been wrecked by two monsters, and I took Trunks, and came back in time in hopes of sparing the past from suffering the same fate."

"The Androids you mentioned earlier?," Goku asked, a serious look on his face now that the fate of world was being talked about.

"Correct dad. Three years from now, on May 12th 767, on an island 9 miles southwest of South City, two horrible monsters will appear. Their power is beyond compare. They start attacking Amenbo Island and that is what draws Earth's Special Forces to fight them."

Trunks took up the thread of the tale from that point. "Everyone puts up a good fight, but you all fall, one by one. Tien, Krillin, Piccolo, Yamcha, even Vegeta falls. With Piccolo's death goes the dragonballs and the hope of anyone being brought back. The only one who gets away is Gohan."

Mirai Gohan held up a hand to forestall Goku's question. "I know what you want to ask dad, what about you. You die six month earlier, of a heart virus that at first strikes only super Saiyans. Later it spreads to the rest of the world, but by that point the Androids have arrived and the world has bigger problems."

Goku clinched his fists together, an angry expression on his face. "Damn it! I want my shot at them, but you tell me I am going to die before I even get my chance. I am sure I can make a difference."

A smile broke out on Mirai Gohan's face. "You have no idea how long I have waited to hear you utter those words dad. As it happens while there was no cure when the virus first appeared, we developed the cure later on. We have some with us to give to you. Take it right away, and you will be just fine."

"Just remember to take it as soon as you get home tonight. It is grape flavored, we heard that is your favorite." Trunks put in as he pulled the cure out of his jacket and tossed it to Goku. "Transforming into a super Saiyan today likely triggered the virus, but what spread it through your system was fighting. It is in its early stages right now. You won't notice shortness of breath or any other signs for some time. If you take it before those signs start appearing, the cure will annihilate the virus before it can started."

"So Gohan is Kakarot's brat, but who is your father Trunks?," Vegeta questioned. Even as he asked the question the answer hit him. "The way you fight, the pride you show, the style. Your my kid aren't you?"

Trunks blushed and looked away. He had wanted to meet his father for a long time despite all of the bad things he had heard about him. Still at this point, no reason to hide the fact that he was Vegeta's son. "Yes, you are my father. I can't tell you who the mother is, otherwise it likely won't happen," he said to preempt his father's next question.

Vegeta didn't really care too much about that, he had only one burning question. Although part of him was proud of Trunks strength, he looked now to his own. "At this battle where I died, was I a super Saiyan boy?"

Trunks looked to Mirai Gohan, not really knowing the answer to that question.

"Yes you were a super Saiyan Vegeta. It took both of them to bring you down. Had I been stronger or had dad been alive, we might have won the day."

"I am the prince of all Saiyans, I require no such assistance," Vegeta stated in a cold tone. "Given time to train for them, I shall crush them both without any help from any of you."

"Father no!," Trunks pleaded. "Part of the reason we came back was to warn you. But the other part of the reason is we intend to fight alongside you to change the future of this timeline."

"I need no such help," Vegeta said in the same frosty tone as before. "True Saiyans fight alone. I will reclaim my birthright as the strongest warrior in the universe." With that Vegeta took off, leaving the battlefield.

Trunks started to follow him, but Goku's hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to see Goku shaking his head.

"Vegeta will come around. He has fought with us when required in the past. He will again," Goku explained.

"Getting back on topic, Bulma if you would step forward please," Future Gohan said, reaching into his jacket for a capsule.

Bulma nodded and stepped forward. "Yes Gohan?"

He handed over a capsule. "In this capsule is everything you will need should things follow the same dark path that our timeline followed. But you have to promise that you will not look at it unless we fall in battle to the Androids. Included in there are plans for the spaceship that we never got to build due to lack of resources. Furthermore it contains the blueprints for clean limitless energy, and step by step instructions on how to build the time machine we traveled in today. There are some other things loaded on the discs in there, including the cure for the heart virus that Goku has inside his body. The future you says that time is a very fragile thing, and the information inside that capsule should not be used unless you have no other options."

Bulma tucked the information safely away. "I promise she said."

"Are you going to stay with us future me?," Kid Gohan asked. "I bet mom would be thrilled to meet the future version of me."

Mirai Gohan shook his head sadly. "We have to get back to our timeline. The Androids are still rampaging unchecked there. And we have to let future Bulma know that the trip worked. But I want to talk to you for a few moments before we leave. In private please." He rose in the air mentioning for his younger counterpart to follow him.

They flew a safe distance away, landing out of earshot of everyone else.

"What did you want to talk to me about?," Gohan asked.

Mirai smiled, getting down on one knee so he was level with Gohan. "I wanted to tell you two things. First no matter what happens, don't lose who you are inside. Dark days are ahead of you, but you will overcome all of them if you stay true to who you are."

Gohan nodded, not sure exactly what that all meant, but repeating the words softly to himself so that he committed them to memory. "And the second thing?"

"Second is train hard, and learn everything your teachers show you. Trapped inside of you is a great hidden power. You might be the key to defeating the Androids. I was able to transform at a young age, so that I know that you can too." He stood up and placed his hand on Gohan's forehead, focusing on that day in his mind.

Gohan's eyes widened as the images flowed into his head. The deaths of his friends hit him hard, but no harder then Piccolo's. It was one thing to know that a version of Piccolo had died, it was another to experience it first hand. He sunk to his knees his left hand slamming into the ground as tears streamed down his face. "Piccolo..." he whispered to himself.

Mirai looked at him, no pity on his face or in his eyes. He had moved far beyond feelings like that. They only held you back from the truth about life. "Use the pain Gohan. Use those images when you train. When you are ready they can be your trigger, like watching it happened triggered my rage, unlocking my super Saiyan abilities."

Gohan nodded, focus clear on his face. He wasn't about to let that happen to his Piccolo. No matter what it took. "Whatever it takes," he muttered to himself.

Mirai overhead him however. "Exactly whatever it takes." He gave his younger counterpart a hug. "I have to go now, tell the others that if we are alive, we will come back to help you fight the Androids here."

* * *

_A/N: Dies Irae translates into "Day of Wrath". _

_Power Levels _

_Frieza Suppressed: 65,000,000_

_Frieza (Full Power): 160,000,000_

_King Cold Suppressed: 70,000,000_

_Trunks: 30,000,000_

_Trunks SSJ: 177,000,000_

_Goku: 23,000,000_

_Goku SSJ: 170,000,000_

_Mirai Gohan: 70,000,000_

_Mirai Gohan SSJ: 217,000,000_

_I attempt to keep power levels to a reasonable level, but I go based off what the Manga said as a starting point. (If you want the cliff notes version of this skip to the end of this wall of text). _

_I don't use the 50X for the SSJ form, that was never 100% confirmed and I think it provides far too big of a boost. Think about this for a second, when Piccolo fuses with Kami, hes stronger then the super saiyans because he is able to match Android 17 blow for blow, where before Android 17 was able to knock everyone out with a single blow. However by the time the Buu saga rolls around the saiyans are comfortable with fighting him in their base forms, meaning that they believed that they had surpassed him without their transformations. If we go with the idea of a 50X boost then that means that when transformed they are over 50 times stronger then he is which is a silly idea. My guess is that Piccolo is around Perfect Cell's suppressed strength at the start of the Buu saga, which if the 50X was correct would mean that the saiyans were over 50 times stronger then Perfect Cell just by transforming into their super saiyan forms. Seems silly when written like that right?_

_**It was just said that Goku's power was roughly 50 times greater as an SSJ then his base power because 3,000,000 (his base) + 147 million (what I believe the SSJ boost provides)=150,000,000 or 50 times greater then 3,000,000. That is how I got the number for what a super saiyan transformation provides. It was just simple math. **_

_A further example: Going by the 50X power system and giving Goku a power level of 20 million when he returns home and uses his finger against Trunks sword that would mean that Goku power level would be 1,000,000,000. That's right 1 billion. So that would mean that Goku improved by 850,000,000 while away from earth, including the time he spent learning IT. If he could do that how come he couldn't improve enough in the HTC training with another SSJ to defeat Cell? _

_I believe that every saiyan who transforms gets the same boost from the transformation on top of their base strength. I have been thinking about a power level system for a long time, and I always thought that the usual power level systems that are seen on many sites are hugely flawed, because they didn't account for limits, but the numbers didn't click in my head until I read the __Bringer Of Death__ fan fiction written by npberryhill and davidstarlingm. They created a power level system that I urge everyone to go check out, even if you don't agree with what they say. I don't use their model exactly, but reading what they wrote helped me greatly refine my system. _

_First, everyone of the same race has the same limits and possible power. That doesn't mean that they will all reach the same levels of power, just that in the right situation and given enough time, they could do so. _

_Limits are just that. Unless broken by something special (like tree of might fruit), they create a hard wall that fighters can't go past until they unlock another transformation. __The closer a fighter gets to that wall, the longer and more difficult it is to approach that wall. Once they get really close further training to increase raw power becomes very hard and thus pointless in the long run. Instead of increasing their power, they could instead perfect techniques or come up with new ones._

_We know that the limits have to exist, otherwise there is no reason for the higher forms. A prime example is when they are training in the RoST for Cell and Goku declines to go back inside for another day, saying that it wouldn't help them get any stronger. He's already running up against his limits as he and Gohan mastered SSJ1 and became Full Powered Super Saiyans. Gohan is slightly stronger then his dad at this point because he broke the SSJ2 barrier in the RoST for a brief second, but it was enough to allow his base to increase over his dad's. __And, this is what Vegeta failed to understand. Technically, he hit he limit as well but didn't want to believe it. He also didn't believe resting would help either. Until he learned to master the super saiyan form he couldn't get much stronger through pure training._

_For the super saiyans, they can master SSJ1 and SSJ2 forms. As they master each form, they can draw out more and more power from their transformations. I won't spoil how much SSJ power each form gives when fully mastered as that will be addressed when I reach that point in my story. To reach SSJ3 requires a special situation (like being dead already or fusion), but breaking through to each form removes the limits from training again and makes it a lot more effective. All of this will be explained in much more detail when it comes up in the story. _

_**Most of the training is done in the base, and the bases can be trained up to 1/2 of the SSJ form's power (73.5 million). **_

_As you can see Future Gohan is close to being maxed out at this point. _

_Note that the ASSJ and USSJ forms work as power ups within the SSJ1 form, this will be covered in more detail when the time rolls around. _

* * *

**_Cliff Notes Version_**

_SSJ + 147,000,000_

_73,500,000 max base _

_220,500,000 max power_

_Full boost is granted right away upon transforming into a super saiyan for the first time._

_Max base is ½ of the form's boost. _

_Min power 2,000,000 required to transform._

_Can't be stacked with the Kaio-ken._


	2. Chapter 2-Mirror Image

**Chapter 2- Mirror Image**

**Android Saga**

_A/N: Italics = thoughts_

* * *

_The Next Day. Goku's House. _

"I won't study! I am going to go train with dad and Mr. Piccolo," Gohan yelled at his mother. The problems had begun the night before, when Gohan had tried to sleep after the events of the day. His sleep was tormented with the nightmares of watching the Androids slaughter his friends, in the future. Slaughter Piccolo. That was the image Gohan couldn't get out of his head. When he woke up this morning his mom expected him to go right back to studying after breakfast. But what did studying matter if their world was going to be turned into a hellhole in three years? Along with the images, Gohan had received some of the feelings that went along with them. Rage of course, but his future counterpart also felt a great deal of guilt, for not being strong enough to stop the Androids. It was that guilt that made him fight the Androids as often as possible, even though it often seemed hopeless.

Chi-Chi was taken aback by Gohan's angry and violent reaction. _Where was the sweet little __boy she remembered from yesterday? She have no idea what had brought about this temper tantrum he was currently having, but she would not stand for such nonsense._ "Gohan you are going to study. We can do this easy way or the hard way, but you are going to study."

It was like Gohan hardly heard her, as he was lost deep within himself. "I can't mom, I am sorry. They need me to be strong. I have to be strong to save them all."

After hearing Gohan, Chi-Chi softened her tone a bit. _She had heard the full story __from Goku regarding to another version of Gohan had arrived to warn them about evil Androids appearing in three years.__ But they had also said that Goku had died in that world before he could fight the Androids. Surely he would make the difference._ "Gohan, I know you are worried about what happened in the other timeline, but you don't have to worry. Your daddy is going to be fine, and he will take care of everything." She put a smile on her face, although yesterday's events had rattled her some as well. Still, she had to keep positive for Gohan. "How about you study for a bit, and I will make you your favorite cookies. You can take a break in a couple of hours."

Whatever internal struggle Gohan had had seemingly resolved itself. Calmly, Gohan looked at his mother in the eye."I am going to train. You can punish me later, but I am going to train."

Chi-Chi stomped her foot on the ground. This was just not acceptable. "You listen to me Son Gohan, you will not step foot outside this house until I say that you can. Now you will go up to your room and start to study, and we will forget that this conversation ever happened." By the time she finished, she was speaking to an empty room. Gohan had left. She ran to the door, watching him fly away. "Damn it Gohan you get your butt back here right now!" she yelled after him. _ What the hell was going on with him? She was going to have a talk with both him and his father when they got back._

* * *

_Three Months Later. Wastelands _

Piccolo punched Gohan in the face sending him skidding across the ground. The young half Saiyan dug his feet into the ground halting his skid, before launching himself back at Piccolo.

Gohan's progress in the past three months had shocked everybody. He was focused, and driven beyond belief. He took instructions like never before, applying them rapidly. Already he had drawn almost level in power with Piccolo. Piccolo blocked his punches and kicks, but only just. If it wasn't for his greater combat experience, Piccolo knew that he would be in serious danger of losing this fight.

Shifting stances to his father's turtle form, Gohan surprised Piccolo by sweeping his feet out from under him. As his mentor got back to his feet Gohan hit him with a half charged Kamehameha Wave. Not stopping to see the results of the energy attack Gohan pressed his advantage following up with several blows that sent Piccolo staggering away. He was winning exchanges more and more often as they trained. When they fought together they were enough to overwhelm Goku's base form and force him to transform.

Piccolo raised his hand signaling a halt to the training.

Gohan looked at him in confusion. _They often trained much harder and much longer than this. Why were they stopping early? _

"Gohan, we need to talk." This wasn't easy for Piccolo since he wasn't the big talking type of person. But at the same time he had noticed the growing darkness in Gohan. Combined with Goku's reports about growing trouble at home, something was clearly up with Gohan. It had been decided that maybe he would confide in Piccolo. Now that Piccolo thought about in the context of everything that had happened these past months, Gohan was becoming more like his future counterpart then the happy kid he had been. '

Gohan relaxed his stance and sat down on a nearby rock. "Talk about what Mr. Piccolo?"

"Why you are so angry all the time? You have no reason to be that angry. Your dad is going to just be fine. He is not going to die from a heart virus."

Gohan looked down at the ground at the scolding of Piccolo. "It's not him," he mumbled.

To Piccolo's ears the mumble sounded like clearly spoken speech. "If it isn't your about your dad then what it is? You train like the Androids are going to show up tomorrow and not in three years."

Gohan shook his head. "I can't, I won't," he said in a low pained voice.

"You can't and won't what?" Piccolo prompted.

A pained expression crossed the child's face. "I won't fail you again."

Piccolo was confused for a few seconds before it all clicked in his head. "Gohan, you haven't failed me," he said softening his tone. "What happened in the future won't happen here. Things are already different." He held a hand ticking off the points on his fingers. "First and foremost your dad is going to live to confront the Androids. Second we are training every day to fight them. Your dad is going to teach everyone the Kaio-ken, including you. We need all hands on deck to fight the Androids, if two Super Saiyans aren't enough to beat them, then we need everyone to bring something to the fight." That was one of the longest speeches Piccolo had given in a long time and he watched Gohan carefully.

The speech didn't do anything to calm Gohan down; if anything it made him angrier. "No more talking, I want to train," he said standing up.

" No, not until you tell me what is really..." Piccolo cut off as he saw Gohan rushing at him to attack him. The boy's power was spiking widely, quickly forcing Piccolo to go on the defensive. "Gohan calm down" he yelled as he protected himself as best as he could, while knowing that it wasn't going to be enough. As his defenses were broken through several blows were rained down on his face and body. He allowed a blow to knock him away, giving himself time to regroup, and Gohan time to see what he had done.

Gohan fell to his knees as his rage burned out and he saw what he had just done. Tears leaked down his face as he apologized. "Sorry Mr. Piccolo … I just get so angry."

Piccolo sighed. Why had he allowed himself to be talked into being the one the confront Gohan? "What about me that makes you angry Gohan? Is it because a future version of myself dies? Gohan this isn't going to happen. We will be ready for them."

Gohan looked down at the ground. "I can't get the images out of my head," he mumbled.

The mumbling was as loud as clearly spoken words to Piccolo's ears. What images were Gohan talking about? Was he seeing Piccolo's broken body, because of what his future counterpart said? Piccolo walked slowly over to Gohan putting his hand on his head. "Let me see the images Gohan."

Gohan nodded focusing on them again.

A jolt ran through Piccolo's body as the images flew into his head. With them came the thoughts and feelings of the older Gohan, along with his Gohan's views and guilt about a failure that hadn't even happened yet. _Suddenly, it all made sense to Piccolo. When the two Gohan's had gone off to talk the older one must have transferred the images of that battle to his younger self, using a trick that had to be taught to him by Piccolo. A trick that he would teach to his Gohan at some point. He had already been planning the proper way to do it, before the future warriors showed up. _

At first Piccolo started to tell Gohan that he was sorry, but just before he spoke he changed his mind. "We can use this, Gohan. We can teach you."

Gohan looked confused. _This wasn't how he expected Piccolo to react to seeing those images. Part of him had expected Piccolo to be mad, to blame Gohan for his death. _The boy wiped his tears away, reminding himself to focus. "Use them how Mr. Piccolo?"

"Teach you to become a Super Saiyan. You did it in the future at a young age. You will do it here at an even younger age." Seeing Gohan's puzzled look, Piccolo explained. "From what your father said, becoming a Super Saiyan requires a rage trigger. The images from your older counterpart confirm this. Krillin's death was the trigger for your father, for the future you, my death was that rage trigger. But you don't need me to die in order to transform."

Understanding dawned on Gohan's face. "I already watched you die once, even if it wasn't me that was there, it still feels like I lost you once." He paused in his thinking. "So if I have my trigger, then why can't I transform right now from just thinking about it?"

Piccolo frowned. "I am not totally sure about this, but I don't think you are strong enough. I don't think your body is ready to handle the stress of transforming, so that is why you currently can't transform."

Gohan considered Piccolo's words a determined expression on his face. "Then I will keep training till I can transform, then I will keep training until I can beat both Androids on my own, and get these images out of my head by killing both of them." He sounded a lot like his older counterpart in this moment.

Piccolo backed up a bit, getting back into his stance. "Well then shall we continue?"

* * *

_Six Months Later: Outside the Son Household. _

Goku held up his hand to stop Gohan from going on. "You won't achieve the super Saiyan form just by raising your power level Gohan. Getting stronger is part of it, but you have to combine it with the rage trigger" he explained. "Honestly in a normal situation, I would say that you would be unable to transform until the right trigger happened, but you have that trigger in your mind already Gohan, you just have to keep training hard and you will reach the point that you can combine your power with that trigger to transform."

Gohan powered down at his father's signal panting as he did. "Right, daddy."

"You have gotten so strong so quickly Gohan." Goku went on. "I am very proud of you. Now, I have to go teach everyone how to use the Kaio-ken... but I don't want you to come along," he added to forestall Gohan.

Gohan stopped looking at his father with a puzzled expression. "Why not, daddy? Shouldn't I learn the Kaio-ken, I am strong enough!" Gohan knew that that Kaio-ken took a toll on the user's body, but his father had trained to overcome that, and so could he.

"It isn't about how strong you are Gohan. You won't be learning the Kaio-ken for one reason. You won't need it or use it, because you are going to be a super Saiyan just like your daddy is."

* * *

"While the Kaio-ken is easy to learn, and grants the user great power, it suffers from some drawbacks, mainly the toll that it takes on your body." Goku explained to the assembled Z-Warriors. Only Gohan and Vegeta were not among them. "The more powerful you are, and the higher you take the Kaio-ken, the greater the toll that it takes on your body. Training can offset some of this, but the price remains. Push too far too fast or for too long and you will suffer the price. Also limits appear to exist for how high it can be pushed. It doesn't seem to stack with my super Saiyan form either, I can't get it to active while I am transformed."

* * *

_One year later: Two years to the arrival of the Androids: Wastelands_

"Stop holding back Gohan," Piccolo scolded him as he blocked all of Gohan's punches and kicks, before countering with his eye beams. He didn't let up, following up the eye beams with an uppercut that sent Gohan staggering back, his chest still smoking from the eye beams. Piccolo kicked Gohan up into the air before appearing above him and slamming him down into the ground with a double handed smash, causing a dust storm to erupt from the kicked up dust and dirt. "I shouldn't be able to fight you without using the Kaio-ken that your father taught all of us."

As Gohan struggled back to his feet, Piccolo spoke again, shooting a glance over at Goku as he did. "You have all of the raw power that you need to transform, you are stronger than your father was when he transformed on Namek. "

Goku nodded at Piccolo's assessment. "It's true. You have grown amazingly powerful over this past year. Gohan you just have to believe in yourself." That Goku reflected had always been Gohan's biggest flaw. He always had the raw power, but he never believed he could bring it out and control it. Goku had hoped that seeing his future self which erase those doubts, but along with the images of Piccolo's death, had come guilt and doubt over if he could change the future.

Gohan opened his mouth to object, only to have Goku cut him off. "Gohan, everyone is counting on you. You hold the fate of the entire planet in your hands." Goku knew that was a lot of pressure to put on an 8 year old, but it was the truth. "I want you to focus on your anger, bring it all out, hold nothing back," Goku instructed his son.

Gohan nodded, looking within himself as instructed. His father had explained to him several times the process of transforming into a Super Saiyan. The key was anger, get angry enough, and don't fight how that makes you feel. Welcome it, drink it in, let the anger fuel your power. Do that and the transformation would come. Gohan focused on the images his older counterpart had imparted to him, viewing the day that Piccolo died as he had so many times before. His body shook as he watched the Androids batter his friends one by one, tossing them aside like so much trash. Even Vegeta as a Super Saiyan wasn't enough, at least not when they ganged up on him. Piccolo was the last to fall a fist through his chest, his last moments spent distracting the Androids so that he could escape. Gohan clinched his fists as the feelings of anger and guilt washed over him, as strong as ever. This time was different though, Gohan felt himself opening up, allowing the anger to fully wash over him. His aura flared into existence as he screamed out his frustration at his inability to save Piccolo. His white aura got brighter as he drew in more power. _ No more! No more would he watch his friends die, while he stood by helpless. Those Androids were going to pay with their lives._

Piccolo watched with a grim expression on his face as Gohan rose up into the air, sparks starting to appear around his aura. As Gohan screamed out his rage his aura slowly shifted to yellow as his hair stood up on his head. _He was doing it!_ This was closer then Gohan had gotten before, he wasn't simply trying to reach the next level through powering up this time.

Goku stood by ready to step in if need be. He knew about the struggle to control yourself when you first transformed. Even now when he transformed he had to fight back the urge to smash everything in his path. A smile broke out across his face as he saw the transformation taking place in his son. _For Gohan to be able to transform at such a young age, was amazing._

* * *

Vegeta stopped doing push-ups in the gravity chamber as he sensed a massive spike in Gohan's power. _He had felt this just a year ago, with the older version of Gohan. No! It wasn't fair, now the brat was about to surpass him as well?_ For a moment his focus wavered and he felt the full pull of 300 times Earth's gravity pull him the rest of the way to the floor. Slamming his fists on the ground in frustration Vegeta screamed out as he felt Gohan ascend. _This wasn't going to be allowed to stand. He would have the power for himself, no matter what it took._

* * *

Tien and Krillin paused in their exchange of midair blows as they felt Gohan's power spike. At first Tien was ready to go check out what was going on, but Goku was in the area, and his energy was calm. He turned his attention back to Krillin. "Feel that? That is our chances improving again. Now we have to hold up our end of the bargain." Tien had heard stories of how the fight had gone down exactly, and he wasn't about go down as easily as he did in the future timeline.

Krillin nodded at Tien's words. "Goku must be so proud of Gohan right now. I know I am. He has grown a lot since Namek." Pausing he shifted gears. "Even using the Kaio-ken we are never going to match them in raw power." He didn't really have to say who they were.

"That may be true, but we will still be fighting when the Androids show up," Tien stated giving Krillin a hard look. He had never known Krillin to back down when the chips were on the table.

"Yes, so I had an idea about that. We can't match their power, but we can still do our part."

Tien landed on the ground, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am listening."

"We need to get everything possible out of our techniques," Krillin explained. "Also we and Yamcha as well should work on combining our attacks to make them more effective, along with creating new ones."

Tien considered, remembering that when he and Goku were more evenly matched, what gave him the edge was his vast range of techniques. "Maybe we can also do things with the Kaio-ken that Goku never thought of doing."

* * *

With a final scream Gohan floated in midair, transformed. All this power, and he wasn't even tired holding it. He couldn't wait to test his new abilities out and for that his eyes settled on his dad. He wasted no time charging his dad landing a few blows before Goku could also transform into a super Saiyan. He didn't usually have the upper hand in a spar with his father, but his new power was giving him the upper hand for the moment.

He started to follow up on the opening in his father's defenses when his ki senses alerted him to an attack coming from behind him. Swinging around he got an arm up to block Piccolo's kick at his face. Responding quicker than he ever had before he countered with a knee to Piccolo's gut sending the Namek staggering back a few steps. Gohan followed that attack up with a one handed energy blast to Piccolo's face.

Gohan felt a massive ki appear directly behind him as he was grabbed from behind and thrown roughly to the ground. Standing above him was his father in all his super Saiyan glory. Gohan raised one arm "Masenko!" he yelled, firing an energy blast directly at his dad.

Goku was able to get his arms up to block the Masenko, but only just barely. _Sloppy _he scolded himself._ I am not adjusting to the fact that his reflexes are at a Super Saiyan level. _ Straining he redirected the Masenko, sending it to explode behind him.

* * *

_Several Weeks Later, Capsule Corp. _

Vegeta was getting out of the shower after his latest training session, and getting ready to head back into the gravity chamber to train again when Bulma appeared in the bathroom doorway. She was wearing only a thin robe.

"Hi, I thought I could join you in the shower," she said with a purr in her voice as she started to undo her robe.

_ He could always take a small break from training _Vegeta reflected. _Especially with the risk involved with what he had planned next._ Vegeta _didn't really care about Bulma, but the sex was nice to help bleed off some of his frustration, and the women was useful in how quickly she fixed the gravity chambers after he finished another intense training session._ Nodding at Bulma, Vegeta stepped back into the shower.

* * *

_Age 785 Future Timeline, Ginger Town._

A tail stabbed out from the shadows, impaling a fat well dressed man who was trying to flee the scene. While his matter got sucked into the tail, a hand raised up firing an energy blast that shook the town, causing several buildings to fold in on themselves. The end result was the way out of the town was blocked to traffic.

Several miles away Gohan stopped dead in midair. Trunks went a bit further before also stopping. "Gohan what was that? It can't be the Androids."

Gohan struggled for several moments to pull himself together. That energy, he hadn't felt it since he was a small child. Dad? But how? The dragonballs were gone. And if he was that strong who was he fighting. It had to be the Androids. Transforming into a Super Saiyan Gohan made a motion to Trunks. "Come on Trunks, something strange is going on in Ginger Town, and we need to check it out."

Seeing his mentor transform, Trunks also transformed. "Got it, Gohan." He hadn't failed to notice Gohan's face when they sensed the energy wave. It was a mix of horror and longing. "Gohan what's going on?"

"I know this sounds crazy Trunks but I sense my dad in the distance," Gohan explained as they flew in the direction of the massive ki.

"But hes dead, and we don't have the dragonballs," Trunks pointed out. Trunks had never seen the dragonballs, but he had heard stories from his mom and from Gohan. If it was Goku by some amazing chance then they might finally be able to beat those Androids. Trunks wanted to avenge his father and make Gohan proud of him.

"I know Trunks, and I don't want to go my hopes up but..." Gohan trailed off as he started to sense other ki signals. Vegeta! Piccolo! and others, including … Frieza? _What the fuck was going on there?_ Gohan picked up speed. _Was this some kind of joke? It better not be. _ "Things keep getting weirder, now I sense your dad and Piccolo, along with Frieza."

"Dad...wait, Frieza?" Trunks questioned. "But he's dead, we killed him. And your dad killed him in this timeline." Trunks extended his ki senses focusing on the energy emitting from Ginger town. It was Frieza, and also King Cold. "It's his dad also...and you Gohan. How though, you are right here next to me?"

Gohan had also sensed his own energy and was starting to wonder if this wasn't just some horrible nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. "Suppress your ki and we will fly in low to check things out."

"Got it," Trunks said as he followed instructions. He had to return to his normal form, but that wasn't really an issue. They landed just outside the town, and moved rapidly from cover to cover. What they saw...

Cell finished absorbing the energy from the last living human in the town when his attention snapped behind him, just in time to dodge a massive energy wave that was heading for him. A golden haired warrior floated in the air behind him, hands raised. Cell took a considering look at the fighter, his database program stripping away the years from the fighter. "Gohan how nice to see you alive and well...for now anyway," Cell said with a smile. A smile that was quickly wiped off his face as he felt a sword slice through his tail, to be followed by an energy blast pressing into his back and blowing him forward.

"Finish Buster!" Trunks yelled as placed his hands against Cell's back, sending the monster flying forward. Not wanting to give the creature a chance to recover, the Super Saiyan followed up with an energy barrage. Looking above him he noticed that Gohan was also raining energy blasts down on the foe. Finally after an intense barrage they stopped firing. "Do you think we got him Gohan?," Trunks asked as he extended his ki senses into the massive smoke filled crater that what was left of the center of Ginger Town.

Gohan shook his head. "Not yet, his ki signal is weak, but it is still there. I don't see how he will be able to fight us anymore though. Maybe we can get some answers now." He landed as he spoke, but didn't relax his guard. "For starters how he knows who I am."

"Gohan!" Trunks said, an urgent tone in his voice. "I think this creature he's the one giving off all the ki signals that are like our friends and family, also like our foes. He still feels like you, but like you did after the Androids almost beat you to death the day I transformed."

As the smoke cleared, Cell stood in the center of the crater trying to stem the bleeding with hi his one remaining arm. The other had been blown clean off, and the creature's chest and legs were pocketed with burns from energy blasts.

"Give it up monster. Explain yourself and you will get to live for a little bit longer." Gohan didn't promise that he would spare Cell, that Gohan was long gone, washed away in all the years spent fighting the Androids.

"Very well, I yield," Cell said, every breath a clear effort. Already though, his cells were knitting him back together. He just needed to stall for more time, and the fools were giving him the perfect way to do so. "My story is a long one, but you can believe that I speak truly when I say that I mean you no harm. You are not the reason I was created."

"Why should we believe you after what you did to this town you freak?" Trunks began to reply, only to fall silent when Gohan raised a hand for him to do so.

"For what were you created and who created you?" Gohan had _a horrible feeling that he knew the answer to the who already. It would just be fucking wonderful if they had to fight this monster on top of fighting the Androids. Well it wasn't going to happen, because once they got their answers they would finish disposing of their foe._

"My name is Cell and you know my creator already, the good Dr Gero," Cell explained.

"Android!" Trunks hissed flaring his power again and pulling his sword out. He wasn't going to suffer an Android to live.

"Trunks stand down," Gohan ordered, none of the internal tension he was feeling coming across in his voice. "You fight when I say to fight and not before. That was our agreement. Besides, Androids don't give off energy. They especially don't give off energy of dead fighters."

Trunks sheathed his sword, but kept his hand ready to draw. "As you command, Master."

Cell didn't miss a moment of the exchange. His database had no record of this Trunks, but clearly the one he had to address himself too was Gohan. "I am not an Android as you point out Gohan, you know this because I give off energy. Instead I was grown in Dr Gero's lab. I am made up of the Cells of the greatest fighters, collected over many decades. I have a part of you, a part of your father, a part of Piccolo and many others inside of me."

Gohan's face paled as he heard the news. What kind of sick creature was standing in front of him? Dr. Gero's madness had clearly known no bounds. "So why are you here then? For what were you grown?"

"For one simple task. To rid the world of the Androids," Cell said, not lying but also not telling the truth either. Sure he would remove the threat of the Androids, by using them to become complete. And then, and only then would these two in front of him pay for hurting him like they had.

"Liar!" Trunks spat at Cell. "If you wanted to hunt down the Androids then why were you killing the people of this town?"

Cell shook his head, giving a small chuckle. The healing process was almost complete. He was holding back the outward signs, but the internal damage was pretty much healed. "I didn't kill them, I made them a part of me."

Trunks had heard enough and drawing his sword he charged at Cell, only to be stopped by Gohan appearing in front of him.

"Not yet," Gohan said in a low voice. "Soon I promise, but we need to hear the rest of his story. Maybe he knows of some way to defeat the Androids, some weakness that they have that we can exploit." He turned back to Cell. "Please go on. How exactly do you plan to rid the world of the Androids? They are both stronger then you. You wouldn't stand a chance."

Now Cell allowed a smile to cross his face. "That is where you are wrong my friends." With a loud yell he finished healing his tail and his arm. The burns on his body all vanished. "Ah, much better. For you see, I can regenerate."

"Like Piccolo could. That makes sense since you have his cells," Gohan noted. "Still it won't help you if we remove your head."

"Yes like his, but much much improved," Cell said, not bragging but speaking the simple truth. "Allowing me to tell my story gave my body time to heal up."

"For all the good that will do you," Trunks stated. "It just means that we get to hurt you some more before we kill you. Which I am personally okay with."

"Fools," Cell began with a chuckle. "You don't know what you have just done. "I have another set of cells in me remember. I am also a Saiyan, and like the Saiyans I gain strength by recovering from near death situations." He paused to let that sink in. "The more you hurt me, the stronger I get." He spread his arms wide, leaving himself totally exposed. "So by all means come hurt me more, I will just heal and come back even stronger. It doesn't matter how long it takes, sooner or later I will grow strong enough to overcome the Androids, and then once I am complete, I will come back for you."

"Once you are complete?" Gohan asked. If what Cell was saying was true, and Gohan thought it was based on Cell's increased power level, then they needed to kill him this time around or the fight might start to turn against them. If he healed then they needed to reduce him to the point that he couldn't.

Cell saw no harm in telling them, it wasn't like they could stop him anyway. "Yes, I will be absorbing the Androids, making them a part of me. Doing so will make complete. That is my reason for existing. I will spare you because I will need someone to test my new body against at that point. Enjoy the time you have left, and use it well to get stronger."

It only made sense Gohan reflected. Cell grew stronger by taking in the ki of strong warriors. His name Cell had to be a clue of some sort. In order to win they had to destroy every single cell in his body. He couldn't come back from that surely.

* * *

_765 Past Timeline. Capsule Corp, Gravity Chamber. _

"Computer, override safety protocols," Vegeta commanded.

"Confirm safety protocols override," the computer responded.

"I say again disengage safety protocols," Vegeta ordered for a second time.

"Voice match confirmed. Safety protocols overridden," the computer reported.

The computer beeped as it processed the new situation. "Shall I engage the defense program at 500 times Earth gravity?" it asked. "Analyses suggests that the defense program capable of causing serious harm when used in conjunction with large amounts of gravity." It beeped again before going on. "My programmer would be rather unhappy if I severely injured you. Nevertheless I am programmed to obey your commands."

"How about shutting the hell up while I think you useless piece of trash?" Vegeta said in an offhand comment, annoyed at the constant patter of the computer.

"Shutting the hell up is not a valid command. Please issue a valid command," the computer responded.

"Do you want me to dismantle you?" Vegeta threatened, starting to steam at the comments of the computer. What the fuck was the women thinking when she programmed this thing anyway?

"This unit is not capable of responding to threats." Again a pause and a beep. "This unit would prefer to not be dismantled however."

Vegeta pushed away the thoughts that had been bothering him and detracting from his training. As much as he wanted to deny it, it mattered to him that Bulma would be displeased if he got hurt. Not that Vegeta believed that Earth tech was capable of causing him serious lasting harm, but it irked him to know that somehow the woman had wormed her way deep enough into his thoughts...he wouldn't call them feelings...that he cared about something displeasing her. "Go to 1,000 times Earth gravity, and then engage defense program at max level," he snapped at the computer.

"Analyses suggest that 1,000 times Earth normal gravity is deadly even to Saiyans," the computer responded. A short pause and another beep. "My creator likes seeing you in bed, but she expressed a preference that you were awake while in bed. Simulations suggest that death is the most probable outcome if suggested commands are engaged. "

"Computer if you don't shut the fuck up and engage the program, I will make you regret it," Vegeta promised. He wasn't going to waste anymore time arguing with a machine.

"Engaging program," the computer responded with what almost sounded like a sigh.

The power dimmed for a moment as the program kicked in.

Almost right away Vegeta was driven to his knees from the intense gravity. He had never felt such pressure in his life. And he had only moments before the drones fully came online. Slowly, the seconds seeming to stretch forever he forced himself to his feet. "I won't lose to a computer that won't shut up," he muttered. As soon as he regained his feet two defense drones streaked out at him, firing lasers. Normally those lasers grazed his flesh at worst, but that was under normal operating conditions. This time the lasers were firing at max power, a power that Bulma had calculated could badly harm anything short of a Super Saiyan, and even then the hits would hurt a lot.

At every other level of gravity Vegeta had been able to dodge some or most of the laser attacks, responding with energy blasts to disable the drones. This was not the case in 1,000 times Earth gravity. Vegeta could hardly stand upright, much less dodge, and so he was reduced to trading hit for hit with the drones, leaving burning lines across his flesh as he disabled the first pair. "Shit..." he muttered to himself. This might not have been the best of ideas.

Disabling the first pair caused four to appear, and Vegeta knew that when he took down those four, eight would appear in their place, and so on until he either took them down faster than they could be recharged or he shut the program down. Before the last time he had hurt himself training in the gravity chambers the only way to shut the program down was to flip the kill switch at the other end of the room, short of the scanners registering him being knocked out. Now there was a voice override, but Vegeta knew he wouldn't be using it. He would either become a Super Saiyan or die trying.

As the session went on Vegeta's wounds got progressively worse as the number of drones he encountered at a single time kept doubling. By the time an hour had passed, he was facing 32 drones at once, and his armor and clothing were all but gone from the laser hits. Over a third of his body was covered in first and second degree burns, and he was in so much pain that he couldn't focus on anything but moving forward. The one bright spot was that his body was adjusting well to the intense gravity, which would have been useful had he only had the focus or energy to dodge.

Finally a combined barrage of laser blasts drove him back to his knees. As the drones circled over his head Vegeta reflected on the choices that had lead him to this point. At every turn he had thought that the birthright to be the strongest warrior was finally his, only to have it yanked away over and over again. First he had been killed by Frieza, and then brought back to life, then he had watched Kakarot reach the fabled status of Super Saiyan. If that wasn't bad enough, they were visited by warriors from the future who informed him that although he had become a Super Saiyan himself in the future, it hadn't been enough as two Androids had killed him. But the humiliations kept piling up as Kakarot's brat also became a Super Saiyan while that honor eluded him...the Prince of all Saiyans, who couldn't become a Super Saiyan himself. Deep inside himself, in an area that he normally kept ruthlessly locked away, Vegeta wondered if Frieza had been right, if he was nothing but a worthless monkey who had laid claimed to a worthless and empty title.

Tears leaked down his burned and bruised face as the broken prince lay there expecting the final lasers to fall at any moment. It was at that moment when Vegeta was ready to let go of everything, to admit defeat for the final time, that his last spark of pride kindled inside of him and he forced himself up to face death on his feet. That final defiant act came from his anger, not at the world for being unfair, but at himself for being a failure. But as he struggled to his feet for the final time, he found that he didn't care. He didn't care if he became a Super Saiyan, he didn't care if he was stronger then Kakarot, he didn't care if he lived past the next couple of seconds. It didn't matter, his race was dead, his title empty and meaningless. And then it happened, the transformation that had been out of his reach for his entire life that had been his single goal since his father told him about it as a small child. Prince Vegeta was reborn.

With the new well of energy filing him, he found that he could hardly feel his wounds and burns. Clinching a fist he let his new power radiate out from him...sending out waves of raw power that smashed the drones down as fast as they could appear. Finally he could contain the power no longer and it exploded outward from him a final time, shutting the program down, and smashing that dammed computer in the final seconds before Vegeta blacked out.

* * *

_ A/N: Thanks as usual to my beta reader and good friend __Chemistry-Deaf.__ I named the chapter Mirror Image because the two Gohan's are becoming more and more alike, especially in their goal of defeating the Androids at all costs. This is a scary change for those around Past Gohan, but it is one that is logical with the idea of him having the images of the failure and everyone's death to the Androids in his head driving him on. _

_ I am striving to give everyone their moment in this story, the human fighters although not near as strong as the Saiyans will have their uses in the upcoming fights. Raw power isn't everything._

* * *

_Power Levels_

_Goku: 25,000,000_

_Goku SSJ: 172,000,000_

_Gohan: 5,000,000_

_Gohan SSJ: 152,000,000_

_Trunks: 38,000,000_

_Trunks SSJ: 185,000,000_

_Piccolo: 6,000,000_

_Piccolo 20 times Kaio-ken: 120,000,000_

_Future Cell: 215,000,000_

_Future Cell Post Zenki Boost: ?_

_Future Gohan: 72,000,000_

_Future Gohan SSJ: 219,000,000_

_Vegeta: 9,000,000_

_Vegeta SSJ: 154,000,000_

_Tien: 1,200,000_

_Krillin: 1,000,000 _

_Yamcha: 750,000_


End file.
